Inter-Chinese race row in Vancouver over shark's fin soup
Campaigner gets big Vancouver restaurant to drop the delicacy but is then labelled a 'banana' for failing to uphold his heritage
The debate over shark's fin soup has descended into an inter-Chinese race row in Vancouver, with a restaurant group branding a leading anti-finning campaigner a "banana" who failed to understand his own ethnic heritage.
Vancouver City Councillor Dr Kerry Jang, who has campaigned against the controversial delicacy for six years, is savouring a major success after helping convince the city's biggest Chinese restaurant to drop shark fin from its menu last week. The 1,000-seat Vancouver Chinatown branch of the Hong Kong based Floata chain is also touted as the biggest Chinese restaurant in Canada.
Jang, a leading member of the left-leaning Vision Vancouver party, said he had seen a change in attitudes towards shark fin. "I think it's great, I see an awareness of world values there, and not just Chinese cultural values," said Jang, referring to Floata's decision. "What I really dislike is that they [supporters of shark's fin soup] are trying to wrap this issue in the flag of China."
Jang was referring to a pronounced ethnic split on the issue, not between Chinese and non-Chinese but between immigrant Chinese and Canadian-born Chinese. Jang, a professor of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, is a third-generation Canadian.
That split was emphasised recently by David Chung, head of the BC (British Columbia) Asian Restaurant and Cafe Owners Association, who said that Jang was not equipped to represent the Chinese community, or understand the importance of shark fin to Chinese culture.
"He was born in Canada, influenced by Western culture from a young age and is totally unfamiliar with Chinese culture - unable to understand the historical relationship Chinese have had with shark fin and the innate bond we share," said Chung, owner of the Jade Seafood Restaurant in Vancouver's satellite city of Richmond.
"He is not Chinese, he is a banana. He is only doing this to get cheap political votes. Many people in our industry have already announced that we will not vote for him during the next election," said Chung in a Chinese-language interview with Ming Pao's local edition.